What started as a Twitter thread of frustrated complaints about abuse and centralization in the crypto industry ended with an precipitous proclamation: the delisting of DigiByte on Poloniex. Jared Tate, the founder of DigiByte, once amidst the most pop coins traded on the commutation, sabbatum down with Cointelegraph to share about his concerns post-obit the debacle.

Source: Twitter

The acrimonious human relationship between Tate and the larger forces of Binance (and most recently, the Tron-acquired Poloniex commutation) traces dorsum to a different era in the crypto industry. It was 2022, and markets were on burn. Binance was growing by leaps and bounds, becoming the about popular altcoin exchange in the world. Being listed on Binance was similar having a license to print money.

It was in this environment that DigiByte first entered as a prospective listing on the new commutation, with Tate advocating for its improver to the growing library of assets offered past Binance. Binance showed interest in using DigiByte's DigiSign technology every bit office of its launch process, Tate said, post-obit Cathay'southward exchange shutdown. "We helped promote them. They had a Twitter poll where they said they would list DGB, we won it, and then they started pulling shenanigans, asking us how much money nosotros had."

Tate alleged that Binance expected substantial fees in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to be paid for the privilege of list DGB on the popular new platform. "It's not that people were opposed to paying Binance's list fees — we flat out couldn't. There was no marketing budget," he said. Thus, DigiByte was never listed on Binance, creating considerable malaise in the community, especially after having such high hopes for the lucrative opportunity.

Fast-forward to Fall 2022, when, co-ordinate to Tate, Binance again approached him nigh listing DigiByte on the new U.Southward.-based trading platform, Binance.US. "They said they would list us, respect us; that everybody would let bygones exist bygones. They requested I get on a video call with them. I told the community, 'Look if they brand whatever crazy demands, I'm not going to go for information technology.' I was told they wouldn't brand any crazy demands. Sixty seconds into the telephone call, they're asking for $300,000 and 3% of all DigiBytes."

Tate wondered why Binance would approach him at all, considering their past negative experiences. "90% of the crap that's out there, they couldn't list on the new Binance.Usa platform. Then I retrieve they were mayhap using us to promote their new platform? Y'all wonder, did they intentionally do that? They legitimately think this whole thing is nothing more than business. It's a difference in values."

When Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao was challenged on Twitter regarding the listing fees in September, he was dismissive, nevertheless did non deny the allegations, stating he was "not gonna waste matter whatsoever time on these types of guys."

Source: Twitter

Via a "Binance List Tips" article originally published in October of 2022, Zhao had advised list applicants to follow the prescribed process and to respect a "strict" NDA, particularly forbidding the disclosure of listing data. Some other tip brash, "It is a bad thought to 'try-to-pressure' Binance into listing your coin by spreading FUD or negative comments about Binance." The blog likewise noted that all listing fees would be donated to the Binance Charity Foundation, a "100% transparent charity tracked on the blockchain."

Paying tribute to a scattering of tycoons

When working on his book, "Blockchain 2035: The Digital DNA of Internet iii.0," Tate explained he had a "reality moment" seeing how much the blockchain space has changed in just two years. Certain behaviors and expectations that would not have been tolerated previously have been normalized, he said. Tate pointed to examples of projects consisting of completely pre-mined supplies and massive marketing budgets, which have turned into "hype machines."

He believes blockchain technology tin can empower a brighter hereafter for humanity, letting users accept charge of their own financial futures and personal data. "Simply if the whole industry is run past a handful of tycoons that you lot have to pay tribute to, to go anything washed... it'due south scary."

Tate said people should back up whichever project they want, whether it's a genuine decentralized project or a 100% pre-mined centrally controlled hype machine. "But when that same project is masquerading and presenting itself to the mainstream financial media as a truly decentralized system, withal it'south far from it, to me, that'southward only not right."

The Poloniex debacle

Upon hearing that Poloniex had been sold to Tron founder Justin Sun and a grouping of Asian investors, Tate publicly expressed concerns regarding data privacy. He was particularly bothered that the company neglected to mention how personal client data would be handled. "This is more personally sensitive information than anything Facebook or Twitter or whatsoever other social media site gathers about you lot," said Tate.

Tate expressed concerns about SIM-jacking attacks, noting that exchange customer data tends to be a highly desirable target. "This kind of data specially in different hands or dare I say — governments — who knows what information technology might exist used for?" When Tate reached out to Poloniex about these security concerns, he said he received no response.

On Twitter, Poloniex responded to Tate's thread of criticisms, stating that they do not own any US customers' data, "as all of them are preserved past Circle," the previous owner of the commutation. Information technology was in this same tweet that Poloniex announced the sudden decision to delist DGB.

Source: Twitter

"It's sad," he continued. "At 1 signal, Poloniex was probably the best exchange in the world. Information technology is very disappointing to come across that this new group took over and to see the way they've conducted this whole affair." What really triggered Tate, he said, was when he saw a since deleted Poloniex tweet reading "Just purchase TRON." In addition, tweets promoting complimentary listings for all projects built on TRX "did non bode well," said Tate.

Regarding the sudden delisting of DGB, Tate responded, "These exchanges, like Poloniex, take made millions of dollars trading DGB over the last five years." On a number of occasions from 2022 to 2022, DigiByte was the asset with the highest trading volume on Poloniex. Tate said the decision was irrational. "From a business concern perspective, it doesn't brand any sense."

Tate insisted that any one delisting can't kill DigiByte. The cryptocurrency appears on over 100 exchanges globally. "There is no budget to cut or employees to fire. The network runs itself," he said.

Moving frontwards with or without Binance and Poloniex

Tate noted that the middle of the problem is a lack of understanding of, or involvement in, true decentralization. "The fact that Binance would recall we could just send them 3% of all DigiByte in circulation and $300,000 lets me know they truly practise non understand what decentralization is."

Despite the negative experience, Tate sounded hopeful for the futurity. He is looking to decentralized exchanges every bit the likely mode forward, but anticipates a long road ahead. He expects further monopolization and consolidation in the industry, accompanied past a possible crash earlier things turn around. "Things might become worse before they get amend. Eventually, information technology comes down to DEXs. To make this a decentralized ecosystem, it needs decentralized exchanges and interoperability between chains."

Tate said, "Within 24 months, as regulators clamp downward, I recall y'all'll see one or two leading DEXs emerge that have over every bit the largest source of liquidity for the markets."

Most so-called DEXs are not actually decentralized, according to Tate, "Poloniex 'caused' a DEX, supposedly. How does a centralized commutation acquire a decentralized exchange? It's all marketing hype, and some people are buying into it."

"The problem is," Tate connected, "at that place aren't enough people speaking out saying 'this is crap,' or they're getting drowned out past imitation Twitter bots and hype. Once people are educated, they'll make the best decisions."

Tate explained, "Satoshi said it himself in the whitepaper: 'If this applied science becomes reliant on a trusted third party, we've failed.' It's been hijacked, and we've lost what made this keen to begin with."

Community response

In response to the Poloniex fallout, the DigiByte community was overwhelmingly supportive, said Tate. Nearly one-half a dozen exchanges take decided to add DGB to their listings since the incident, with a few more than "in the works" according to Tate. "I but want to say thanks to all DigiByte supporters and the community. I would urge everyone in the space to support truthful decentralization."

Both TRON and Poloniex declined to comment for this story.